Wisconsin governor defends inclusive language proposal to change ‘mother’ to ‘inseminated person’

Republican lawmakers have condemned the suggested gender-neutral terms as ‘woke virtue signaling’. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has defended a proposal to change the term “mother” to “inseminated person” in state law. The 73-year-old Democrat rallied for revisions around certain gendered language in his budget proposal for the 2025 to 2027 fiscal period. The bill was first introduced by the state Senate’s Joint Committee on Finance last Tuesday.

Under sections 3105 and 3106 which concerns artificial insemination, the suggested changes include swapping “husband” to “spouse,” “wife” to “person”, “father” to “parent” (or “natural parent”) and “mother” to “inseminated person.”.

“Mother” was replaced with a gender-neutral term at least 30 times and “father” was swapped out more than 120 times throughout the 1,917-page document, according to a review by Republican State Representative Amanda Nedweski. Speaking at an event at the Marathon County Public Library in Wausau on Monday, Evers backed the proposed changes and clarified they would only apply to IVF procedures done within Wisconsin.

“What we want is legal certainty that moms will be able to get the care they need,” he said. “That’s it, end of story.”. The governor expressed disdain towards Republicans who he accused of lying and politicizing the proposed changes. “What the Republicans say is a lie, so of course I'm pretty [p***ed off] about that,” he said. “It gives people using IVF legal certainty. That’s it… Moms are moms. Dads are dads. What we want is legal certainty.”.

Specific details around how the removal of the gendered terms would expand access to IVF treatment or the alleged legal barriers currently in place were not addressed by the governor. Evers has faced backlash from GOP lawmakers who have written off the proposed revisions as “woke virtue signaling”.

“If you believed moms are moms, and dads are dads, then there would be no need for this change. Apparently, Evers believes dads can be moms too,” Nedweski, a mom-of-two, tweeted on Monday. “If I called my mother an inseminated person, she'd probably slap me for good reason," State Senator Andre Jacque told FOX 11. “We hear a lot about woke virtue signaling. I think this is probably the best example of that I've ever seen.”.

Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Voss added: “Once again our woke DEI-loving Governor reminds us just how liberal and out of touch today's Democratic Party really is.”. Evers’ comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month and claimed there are two immutable sexes – male and female – defined by whether an individual is born with eggs or sperm.

The order also explicitly states that “‘sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender ideology.’”. At the time, Trump officials framed the policies as a way to protect women. “Women deserve protections, they deserve dignity, they deserve fairness, they deserve safety,” a senior policy adviser told The Free Press. “And so this is going to help establish that in federal policy and in federal laws.”.